


What It Means To Be A Parent

by thejammys



Category: Thor (Movies)
Genre: Father's Day, Fluff, Gen, Heimdall is the dad they deserve, a little Heimdall tiddy for Astro, mentions of post-Ragnarok and IW fix-it
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-06-21
Updated: 2020-06-21
Packaged: 2021-03-04 00:34:14
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,000
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24840874
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/thejammys/pseuds/thejammys
Summary: A dad isn't always the one who made you, sometimes he's the one who raised you.
Comments: 13
Kudos: 49





	What It Means To Be A Parent

**Author's Note:**

> A/N: you will have to pry Heimdall as Thor and Loki's loving father figure from my cold dead hands

oooooo

The problem with playing hide and seek with Heimdall was that he could see  _ everything. _

Loki continually pointed this out to Thor, to no avail, and so it fell to the gatekeeper to pretend that he ‘turned his powers off’ for the game.

It was enough for Thor, who would sprint off to hide, but Loki was skeptical. This meant that Heimdall had to take an extra long time finding the younger prince to stay convincing.

They had to institute a rule that Loki stop shapeshifting as he insisted that Heimdall must be cheating when he picked up a turtle and it transformed into a pouting four-year-old prince with dark curls who absolutely could not believe he’d been found.

Playtime with Heimdall was a delight, and occurred in some form nearly everyday.

He had a job, an  _ extremely important job _ , watching the realms and reporting to his king. But he chased Thor and read a story to Loki one afternoon after finding himself unexpectedly in charge of the children and they were hooked.

Frigga loved being a mom. She was excellent at creative games, telling wonderful stories and assuming wild characters that blended seamlessly with whatever world her boys had devised. The princes could pass hours with her, running, swimming, crafting, and getting lost in all the wild fantastical tales their young imaginations could supply.

But Frigga was often called away to tend to her duties as queen.

Royal families had the option of assistance from maids and servants to help fill the gaps in child rearing left by parents responsible for the welfare of a realm. But Frigga trusted Heimdall, and he knew that it gave her peace of mind to have her babies in his care.

That he was excellent at it was a happy byproduct for the boys.

An old warrior, Heimdall had no shortage of stamina to keep up with the little godlings and plenty of experience to draw on when it was time to describe his character or participate in their fantasy adventures. Thor required lots of play to burn off the stores of energy he had in his little nature god body, and Heimdall was suited for it.

It wasn’t even a chore, Heimdall was used to standing still at the Bifrost and keeping his eyes forward. To run around and stretch, to slip into the mindset of a child and look for excitement and beauty everywhere was a blessing.

Sometimes the king and queen were not available by dinnertime, and maids would come to the garden, field, or occasionally the Bifrost’s chamber where the gatekeeper and the princes played. They would offer to take the boys and get them fed, but the princes would have none of that.

“Come with us, Heimdall!” they would plead, each tugging on one of his hands and dragging him back to their mother’s sitting room.

This was where they usually ate with their mother.

Odin was busy.

An attendant would arrange food on a low table and stack cushions for the gatekeeper, though the carpet was far softer than the ground he had played on all day.

Thor needed no cushion as he got up and moved around a lot during dinner, and Loki liked to be in a lap.

He demanded to be held at all times when they weren’t playing.

Thor could not stay still long enough to remain in someone’s arms for more than a few minutes, unless he was asleep.

After dinner was bathtime, where play continued.

Heimdall skillfully kept up his end of the conversation while he washed the day’s mess from their tiny limbs and hair. They loved to cover his face in bubbles and have him look down at them with severe bright golden eyes. Their tiny bellies would bounce with laughter when ‘bubble man’ pretending to be distracted, humming to himself, and then stop suddenly with a “hmpf!” and turn wide eyes to the boys and ask “what are you doing!”

This could repeat twenty to thirty times before they were ready to move on.

When they were clean and pink, he would carefully dry them and dutifully reply to everything they said with “of course” or “is that so?” as he wrangled them into clean sleep clothes.

The next bit was Loki’s favorite part of the day.

The boys could not fall asleep without a story. Frigga’s lovely voice was often accompanied with little displays of magic to illustrate her words. Heimdall had a bit of skill with seidr, that Frigga herself had taught him, but what the boys loved most was his resonant basso profundo.

Thor would climb into his bed and wiggle with excitement for Heimdall story time.

Loki, an extraordinarily bossy child, would direct Heimdall to sit in the large rocking chair in his and Thor’s bedroom, select a book, and then wait at the guardian’s knees to be pulled up onto his lap.

One arm had to remain wrapped around him, for this was proper storytelling etiquette, and Loki liked to rest his head on Heimdall’s chest as he listened. The gatekeeper's breasts were almost as large as his mother’s, though much firmer, and tiny lap babies needed a pillow.

As the boys got older, and Loki’s skills with magic grew, he would take over for his mother and make little light shows to supplement the story and send animals, insects, flowers, and weather dancing all around the room.

He did this from the safety of Heimdall’s lap, of course.

When Heimdall finally tucked Loki into bed beside Thor, they insisted on receiving goodnight kisses and then Heimdall was free to return to his post.

Days with the boys always left his shoulders lighter and his heart more protective.

Occasionally just one parental figure was not enough and the princes would take their mother to the Bifrost chamber and happily inform Heimdall that he was going to stop whatever nonsense he was doing just standing there holding a sword, and play with them and mama instead.

Who was Heimdall to say no?

Years passed this way, and while the imaginative games changed and eventually Loki stopped climbing onto his lap, the boys never strayed from wanting Heimdall’s attention.

When Thor learned how to properly tuck and roll while holding Mjolnir, his father was in the middle of a war council and would not step away.

The young thunder god flew to the Bifrost and made Heimdall watch him perform it at least ten times before Thor knocked into the dais.

When Loki learned how to create doubles, Odin said that a prince’s time was better spent learning to fight than to hide.

It was Heimdall who reminded Loki that when numbers were few and soldiers were weary, a glamour of troops could be the difference between an enemy’s decision to attack or surrender. He then requested to see Loki’s doubles until the prince’s tears were dry and he looked just as proud as Thor had with his battle gymnastics.

Time took his boys further away.

Thor grew proud, arrogant, and brash.

Loki became sullen, sneaky, and jealous.

Through it all, Heimdall never took his eyes off of them.

They continued to seek Odin’s approval, and Heimdall wished he could tell them that the king withholding it was not a reflection of them or their worth.

It made Frigga tired, and Heimdall watched her try to compensate for her husband’s hardness and bolster her boys with extra love. Heimdall knew the boys loved their mother fiercely, but in the face of their father’s seemingly endless disappointment, her praise and adoration read to them as being born out of a mother’s love, and not the truth of their natures.

But when Heimdall said, “you’ve grown stronger, Thor,” or, “you’ve mastered your craft, Loki,” the boys listened.

Despite seeing everything that came to pass, Heimdall could not place when it was that he lost Loki.

The little boy who loved to fall asleep against him had changed.

After Loki let go, Thor and Frigga spent hours in the Bifrost chamber hoping for Heimdall to get a glimpse of anything that might indicate Loki was still alive.

They wept freely each time the guardian shook his head, and Heimdall wished he could tell them that he was grieving too.

When he saw Loki appear on Earth, Heimdall had shouted into the empty space and sprinted to the queen faster than he had ever moved in his life. At that moment, Odin was an afterthought.

When Thor brought him back with the Tesseract in tow, Heimdall’s fingers twitched with the desire to reach out and make sure Loki was really there. The look in the prince’s eyes told Heimdall that his mind was elsewhere, and he likely had no idea how much the two people who stood beside him had ached for his return.

“Welcome home, Loki,” Heimdall had said.

Loki, ever the little shit, had cocked his head and said, “Gatekeeper,” in a way that made Thor growl.

But as he watched the princes make their way up the Bifrost, Thor never let go of his little brother and Heimdall could finally exhale.

The years were hard and cruel, and though the people of Asgard made a new home on Earth they had greatly suffered.

There was no such thing as Father’s Day on Asgard, as parents were meant to be honored every day of the year, but the worldwide holiday made its way to the ears of New Asgard and the refugees were grateful for something to celebrate.

Heimdall knew that some children were baking and making things for their fathers in preparation, but he was entirely surprised when a knock on his door revealed Thor and Loki holding a cake.

That alone was enough to take him out, but when he looked down and read what they had written with frosting he had to grab the door frame for support.

_ Happy Father’s Day _

Thor cooked bacon and eggs while Loki cut up apples and oranges and Heimdall tried his best to stay composed.

When they sat down to eat, Heimdall half expected a maid to bring him a cushion and Loki to climb into his lap.

“Oh, and I almost forgot!” Thor said, producing a small card from his back pocket.

The front featured a frog with googly eyes sitting on a lillypad with two baby frogs.

“Do you remember bubble man?” Thor asked, and Heimdall nodded and tried his best not to cry. 

“I do.”

“Loki picked it out,” Thor added, earning an elbow in the side from his brother.

Inside, each of the boys had written him a message.

_ Thank you for everything. _

_ I would not be the man I am without your guidance. _

_ I will forever be grateful for your wisdom and patience. _

_ Our people are lucky to have you, _

_ And I am especially blessed. _

_ Lots of love, _

  * _Thor_



And on the other side:

_ Thank you for not killing me. _

  * _Loki_



Bubble man had to excuse himself to the restroom after that to splash water on his face.

When he had sufficiently deescalated his heart rate, he returned to the table.

After their bellies were full of breakfast and cake, they moved to Heimdall’s couch to sit back and digest the feast of sugar they had just consumed.

“You know bubble man is based on someone I once knew,” Heimdall said after a few minutes of them rubbing their stomachs and sighing.

“Who?” Thor asked, as he moved to the floor so he could properly lie down and stretch.

Loki remained on the couch with his legs curled beneath him, and grabbed a pillow to place under his head so he could comfortably face Heimdall while he listened.

The image was so familiar to Heimdall that he could hardly believe centuries had passed since the last time he’d seen the princes in these positions.

“I met him on Vanaheim,” Heimdall said as he began to tell a story to his boys.

oooooo

**Author's Note:**

> A/N: Thank you for reading, and happy Father's Day! :D you can find me over on twitter at thejammys_
> 
> This could be and for now I'm gonna say -is- in the 'Fallen Angels' universe.


End file.
